My name is Gonzalo, but most of my friends call me Alo. I was born in Cádiz, a small city in the south of Spain where we speak really bad and thus say "Cai" instead of "Cádiz". Now you got it: Alo + Cai = Alocai.
I have travelled around +70 countries and my biggest passions, besides travelling, are sports and adventures.
My other big passion is my family: my partner Elin and my children, Iker & Karin.
Elin is from Sweden and she is the reason why I've been living in Stockholm the last five years. She refuses to open a CS profile, but I can tell you she is an amazing person. And a good one :) She also shares most of my hobbies, excepts for chess (which she thinks is for freaks like me).
Iker is our son, a perfect Spanish/Swedish mix. He is four years old, really cute and smart. He speaks both Swedish and Spanish fluently. He likes training with us, playing with his cars (specially Teslas) and learning new things. He is a great skier already and has been cycling since he was 3.
Karin is only six months old. She looks very much like her brother. She is simply adorable. :)

Somebody in CS wrote in a reference that we are "a glamorous couple". We laughed a lot when we saw that, because we think we are just the opposite. "Glamour" is not really our thing :) We are quite relaxed and easy-going. Love meeting new people and leveraging every single minute that this life is offering us.

We like exercising a lot and being out. We also enjoy spending time with our friends and families. We don't have TV, car or some other things that many other people consider fundamental. Life is about enjoying its small pleasures (a walk, a conversation, a hug, a smile)... keeping it as simple as possible.

PHILOSOPHY
- No matter where you go, people treat you the way you treat them.
- Sustained happiness comes not from what we GET, but from what we GIVE.
- Money, influence and position are nothing compared with brains, principles, energy and perseverance.
- Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express your highest values and best self.
- Stay courageous in a world that discourages you from being exceptional.
- Be excellent even when you least feel like it.
- KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I adore this project. Every single CS experience I've had so far has been absolutely POSITIVE.
I've been hosting people and surfing other couches before I knew about the existence of this social experiment.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING:

- Introduced a lot of new people to CS.
- Hosted a bunch of people -both in Spain and Sweden- since late 2005 (see references below).
- Surfin´. So far we've done it in Denmark, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Africa, Botswana, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
- Meeting new people -mostly through groups- at home or when travelling. Done that already in Syria, Sweden, Lebanon, Angola, India, Singapore, Tunisia, Congo, Taiwan, Brazil and Mexico.

Interests

- SPORTS (specially triathlon, skiing and MTB)
- TRAVELLING!
- Hiking
- PHOTOGRAPHY (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alocai)
- Dancing
- NATURE and adventures
- Challenges
- Discovering new stuff
- Ironman (the triathlon, not the superhero)
- PEOPLE
- Good food
- Chess
- Technology & sustainability

• photography
• documentaries
• dancing
• dining
• exercise
• triathlon
• technology
• movies
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• skiing
• sports
• swimming
• engineering
• lakes
• mountains
• climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: I normally listen to a huge variety of music, but if I had to choose a couple of genres only they would be Flamenco and Jazz. I have an awesome list in Spotify which I like to play while I play chess... Ask me for it, you'll love it!
Movies: Life is Beautiful; Tesis; Nueve Reinas; The Shawshank Redemption; Big Fish; Inception.
Books: The catcher in the rye; High Adventure (by Sir Edmund Hillary); The white tiger; The Autobiography of Mr. Luther King Jr.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hitch hacked ~2000km along Australia, dived in the Great Barrier Reef or in the Red Sea, explored the jungles of Panama, gazed amazing Northern Lights in Lapland and in Iceland, walked along frozen lakes in Finland and Sweden, watched the midnight sun in North Cape, walked in the Sahara desert, crossed borders with a bike (or backwards, with a car), summitted the 6962m of Mt. Aconcagua (Elin), ran along Conakry, finished Ironman triathlon, got into the Great Pyramid of Giza, spent 5 incredible weeks in Syria, upgraded the worst VS of the World in Nigeria, listened to lions' roars at night in the Okavango Delta, watched lionesses eating a wildebeest in Botswana, contemplated Dubai from the tallest building in the World, survived cycling +1000km in Turkey and +2000km in India, escaped from the police in Congo, trekked to Everest Base Camp, watched a breathtaking snow avalanche on Nuptse, completed the +2500km of "Ganges Expedition 2011", gave a speech about "Motivation and Goals Achievement", finished a triathlon after dislocating my shoulder during the swimming, saw the "Voladores" of Cuetzalan in Mexico, saw Elin giving birth to Iker, spent 8 months off-work enjoying with my son, skied on a glacier in Norway in the middle of the summer, camped in the island of Koster, hiked over the clouds in Monterrey or climbed on ice in Neila, danced like never before in Tehran, hiked over a sea of clouds a number fo times, saw an "en-caul" birth (my daughter was born completely inside the entire amniotic sac), ...

Teach, Learn, Share

TEACH: some things related to engineering, photography and sports. Or even chess, if you are a beginner :)
LEARN: that's what I like the most. I am curious by nature!
SHARE: sharing time together is all I need. If you still want some material things and stay at our place, we can share a number of movies and documentaries (in a huge HD screen), 3 chess boards, 4 bikes, some clothing or whatever you might need

What I Can Share with Hosts

Besides the non-avoidable talks about trips and adventures, we are food lovers and enjoy cooking healthy recipes. We like to take care of dinner when we stay at someone's place, so just tell us if there's any food alergy and we'll do the rest. Dinner & entertainment is on our side, we just want YOUR company!

Countries I’ve Visited

Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Spain, Sweden

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